Monday, December 28, 2015

The Bureaucrat Gives and the Bureaucrat Takes Away

A well regulated Militia, being necessary
to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms,
shall not be infringed.

Second Amendment

One sentence. Succinct. Placed second in a
list of ten crucial enumerations of rights retained by the people as a
conditional for the ratification of the Constitution in the first place.
Without the Bill of Rights, there would be no Constitution and no United
States. The Constitution is the glue which binds us together as one
nation, for it provides for our mutual co-operation as multiple states acting
in unison in the areas which effect us all. There is a common currency
(so far!), a common armed force, common standards of weights and measurements,
the right to travel and conduct business across state boundaries. This
works because each state recognizes the citizens of the other states as having
the same rights. It has been the most successful political agreement in
the history of human relations. Appreciate it the next time you drive
into another state without having to stop and render entry fees or show
citizenship papers. Appreciate it as you realize the right of free
speech, security in your papers and effects, freedom from soldiers quartering
in your home, right to trial by jury, right to vote, right against
self-incrimination and so many others regardless of which state you are within.

The United States Constitution was written
with the God given principle of subsidiarity. Subsidiarity requires the
level of authority for any given power to remain as low as possible, as close
to the individual as possible. These levels can be thought of as: the
individual, the family, the neighborhood, the town, the county, the state and
lastly, the federal level. If a man needs food and shelter, then that is
his proper area of action. If his children need an education, then the
family has the proper authority to see to it. If he needs security in his
streets, he forms a town council. If the state needs governing the he
forms a state government. Lastly, the states had those mutual concerns
mentioned above, then the federal was formed for those concerns only! In
other words, the Constitution of the United States does not confer rights, but
rather, some rights are specifically restricted, for the purpose of the
legitimate areas of action of the federal, but no others. The majority of
the rights, held by our citizens, precede the Constitution, and what authority
the federal has is granted by the people, not the other way around. That
is why some of the framers argued that the Bill of Rights was unnecessary, for
to them, the rule of subsidiary was obvious. Wisely, others argued that
men's memories were short, and they wanted the rule written into the document.
The two amendments which demonstrate this most clearly are the ninth and
tenth.

The enumeration in the
Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage
others retained by the people.

Ninth Amendment

The powers not delegated to the United
States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to
the States respectively, or to the people.

Tenth Amendment

The fastest way to
end this remarkable federation of our fifty states would be to cease
recognizing the rights of our citizens as they cross state borders and this is
happening now. The right to keep and bear arms has been making a slow and
determined come-back since suffering severe restrictions in the later part of
the nineteenth century and throughout the twentieth. Starting with
Florida in the late part of the last century, the majority of our states have
been issuing Concealed Carry Permits to their citizens. These citizens
quickly experienced the reality of the pre-constitution days as they found
themselves unable to exercise these new found rights across state lines.
Through much time and effort a strange system of Reciprocity Agreements
sprung up between the Attorneys General of such and such state with some other
states which would allow arms carrying citizens to enter certain states, but
not all. Right now I, as a Virginia citizen, could enter North Carolina,
South Carolina and Florida, but not Georgia, as I traveled south on vacation.
My route to Texas had to be through Tennessee and Arkansas, as
Mississippi and Louisiana were off limits. This is what happens when we
violate the rule of subsidiarity in one area, it creates more violations down
the road. A man has the right to keep and bear arms, for whatever
legitimate reason he may have (self protection, defense of country, sports,
etc.), however when the states wrote restrictions in the form of gun control,
they violated the rule and created a serious flaw in the federation as well.

The Attorney General for Virginia is Mark Herring. He has hit the
news with his remarkable announcement that he will cease recognizing the right
of citizens from twenty other states to keep and bear arms. In other
words, he is unilaterally canceling the Reciprocity Agreements Virginia has
with those states for this reason, in his own words:

“Virginia, and nearly
every other state in the country, have recognized that carrying a concealed
handgun is a significant responsibility that should be extended only to those
who have gone through a process to prove a level of competency and
responsibility,” Attorney General Herring said. “The standards for proving
competency and responsibility are up to each state, and the General Assembly
has established Virginia’s standards for whom it considers capable of safely
carrying a concealed handgun. Those standards should be applied evenly, consistently,
and fairly to anyone who wants to lawfully conceal a handgun in Virginia.”

Wrong!
He is flipping the rule of subsidiarity on it's head and establishing
a precedent wherein each state begins to violate the
federation by ever increasing restrictions against the citizens of the other
states. What he has said is, since we violated the rights of our own
citizens, in the form of gun control laws, we will extend those violations to
any other American who would wish to enter Virginia. This is why I have argued
against any and all gun control laws, for they violate the Constitution and
cause further disruptions down the line. Can you name any other
right, which has been listed in the Bill of Rights, which we would tolerate
bureaucrats switching on and off at their own whim? His citation of
Virginia, and other states, establishing "standards for proving competency
and responsibility" shows the error. What other right requires such
standards? What other right, as protected by the Constitution, requires
us to earn the benefit?

After
February, the agreements with twenty states will be revoked, for Virginia.
This will not protect Virginians from all of y'all citizens of other
states, as I never heard of a criminal
being deterred from committing a crime simply
because he couldn't get a permit. It will simply be a huge restriction to
Virginians to travel, the very people this idiot claims to be protecting. In reality, at the base of his motivations,
is the violation of the Second Amendment, wrapped in pretty words. He wants guns out of the hands of the people,
all the people, of every state. It is my
hope that the legislature of Virginia will squelch this guy and write a law
which recognizes the rights of all Americans to enter Virginia with their arms,
in compliance with the Constitution of the United States.

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"Woe to them that make wicked laws: and when they write, write injustice: To oppress the poor in judgment, and do violence to the cause of the humble of my people: that widows might be their prey, and that they might rob the fatherless. What will you do in the day of visitation, and of the calamity which cometh from afar? To whom will ye flee for help? And where will ye leave your glory?" Isaias 10:1-3

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"Behold I send you as sheep in the midst of wolves. Be ye therefore wise as serpents and simple as doves." Mt 10:16

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